The vast majority of students feel the urge to become more independent at some point. It is not a piece of cake, though. Combining your work and studies takes skill, effort, and stamina. We have gathered some tips that will help you balance your work and education easier. Learn the top five best practices to remain productive!
5 Tips for Students Working Part-Time
Use Helping Tools While Studying
The modern world blesses us with opportunities: our only task is to seize them. This statement can be applied to all spheres of your life. However, we will focus on the studies.
One cannot underestimate the importance of prioritizing when combining work and studies. Yes, it is critical to determine what you will and will not be able to manage.
Let’s say you have two important papers due in a week, a gun control argumentative essay and a Shakespeare sonnet analysis essay. Besides, you have work to do. Thus, you understand that you will manage to write just one of the essays. Tricky situation, huh? There is no need to panic, though. You can opt for a cheap essay writing service: the website where you can purchase a plagiarism-free paper for a reasonable price.
What’s more, you can use helpful tools, such as Quizlet for memorizing, Trello for task planning, NotePad for keeping your notes, and many others.
Just find the ones that work for you and make your life easier!
Stick to the Schedule
It comes as no surprise that time management skills are critical when balancing studies and work. So, we highly recommend you create a schedule and a way to track your progress. For instance, you can get a notebook and put down your plans for a day/week/month – choose what works best for you.
Track your classes, work shifts, assignments, exemplification essay or other important papers deadlines – everything you do not want to forget. Also, it is crucial to indicate time slots when you want to tackle specific tasks. This will allow you to see whether there are any conflicting appointments. If you have a class, you cannot take a shift, and your employer should understand it.
Here are some tips to make your schedule more effective.
- Track your tasks in the most convenient form – app, notebook, etc. If it is too complicated, you risk giving up this useful habit.
- Add time buffers between your tasks: you need time to relax.
- Plan realistically: do not expect to manage everything on the same day.
- Do not be afraid to change your schedule according to the new circumstances.
Create To-Do Lists and Know Your Deadlines
It is a good idea to print out your to-do list and your deadline calendar and hang it on the wall in your room. It is an accessible reminder of what you should do next.
To-do lists help guide your schedule, as you can prioritize your tasks. Let’s dwell on prioritizing a bit more.
A useful trick is dividing your tasks into categories. It could be, for instance:
- important and urgent tasks;
- important and not urgent;
- not important but urgent;
- not important and not urgent.
The first category of your tasks is like firefighting – you must do it now. The second is about quality, like expository essay writing, so schedule the time to do it. The third is a distraction, so you should delegate such assignments. Lastly, the fourth category is time-wasting, so eliminate such points from your list.
When deadlines approach, make sure you cut down the number of tasks that distract you from studying. Remember, your studies, not your work, should be your top priority. Let’s elaborate on that in our next point.
Prioritize Your Studies
Yes, we know that you need to take any job seriously to build a successful career. However, do not forget that your education is of prime importance. That is the exact reason why in most countries, students are not allowed to work full-time.
So, if your responsibilities pile up and you fail to keep up with all of them, you should talk to your employer about reducing your hours for at least an exam period.
Your teacher most probably will not excuse your gaps just because you are working. So, do not forget about your assignments and try to hand in everything in time.
Make Realistic Estimates
Last but not least, remember that you are not a superhero, and you have limited physical and cognitive capacity. So, working more than you can handle and procrastinating on your assignments is a road to nowhere.
You will not be able to write two essays in a day without sacrificing quality. So, it is critical to plan enough time for each assignment. It is always better to dedicate more time and hand in the project earlier than pull off an all-nighter.
So, consider your limits and schedule the time to relax.
Wrapping Up
Balancing your work and studies is challenging, but you can still handle it pretty well. If you are just considering the possibility of getting your first job, here are a couple of hints for selecting one.
- Look for a job that will provide you the relevant experience to make your post-grad job search less challenging;
- Choose a job with flexible hours: it will allow you to plan your time easier.
The world is your oyster. Good luck!
